Mumbai crime: Man killed by roommates after he blamed them for woman's morphed picture

Four days after the police found a body near Mahim creek under the Raheja Bridge, the Shahu Nagar and Crime Branch officials have managed to solve the mystery behind the gruesome killing

Four days after the police found a body near Mahim creek under the Raheja Bridge, the Shahu Nagar and Crime Branch officials have managed to solve the mystery behind the gruesome killing.

Police officials said the victim was murdered by three of his roommates after he falsely blamed them for doctoring a woman’s picture and circulating it via social media.

According to the police, the deceased had morphed the face of another friend’s wife onto a naked lady’s picture, and circulated the image through a popular messaging service. When the husband received the picture on his phone and inquired about it, the deceased person, however, told him that his roommate had morphed the pictured.

When the husband called the roommate and confronted him, he pleaded innocence. After getting to know of his friend’s treachery, he planned the killing. Police arrested two of the murderers yesterday, while the third is absconding.

Cops had found the body with severe injuries and a deep slit to the throat on Monday. The cops were finding it difficult to identify the body. But, a day later, a Bandra resident approached the police stating that his brother was missing. He later identified the body as that of his sibling, Asif Rabiullah Shaikh (22). Cops, however, were baffled while trying to ascertain the motive behind the murder.

Asif, a resident of Behrampada, Bandra (East) was employed as a garment worker and hailed from Nandigram in West Bengal. He resided with three other people, from his hometown.

“After the body was identified, we immediately went to check on his roommates, said Sunil Deshmukh, ACP, Mahim division.

The cops, however, couldn’t locate the roommates, as they had gone missing and hence the needle of suspicion pointed to their involvement.

Police kept a watch in the vicinity of their room, and nabbed two of them when they returned yesterday.

The arrested accused have been identified as Totan alias Islam Imran Mohammed Shaikh and Zakeria Alam Shaikh, while the third accused’s name has been withheld by the police.

“Asif had taken their friend’s wife’s picture from Totan’s mobile and morphed it. When Asif went to West Bengal last month, he told their friend that Totan was the perpetrator. The husband called up Totan and an argument ensued, during which Totan told him that he had not done it and Asif had done it,” said Sadanand Rane, police inspector of Unit V, Crime Branch.

Totan then decided to teach Asif a lesson after he returned from his native place. They invited him for drinks. During the drinking session, the accused only pretended to sip from their glasses, and a while later, when Asif got drunk, they bludgeoned his head with a stone, slit his throat, and fled from the spot.